Sunday, September 26, 2010

What do you get when you return from a two week vacation two days before school, and then have two sets of house guests all in the same month??? A whole lot of fun, but not a whole lot of blogging. The good news is...I have plenty to blog about once things settle down...Legoland...Copenhagen...Tallin, Estionia...St Petersburg, Russia...Helsinki...Stockholm...Puente Pottery Heaven, my first Real Madrid game, Osborne Winery in Malpica, Valderamma Olive Oil factory, and so much more...Please forgive the slow pace...Hasta luego...

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Ya know, just when you thought you were getting a handle on your Spanish...okay, just when you thought you knew how to communicate your name in Spanish...up pops a stylist with whom you have a "failure to communicate"...Yes, that's what tripped me up, the stylist wanted my son's name. I'm not sure if it was to put in the computer for future reference or just for writing the receipt, but she asked for his name and I said it in english. They didn't understand what I was saying, so I just gave them the Spanish name Juan. Then they asked in Spanish for his first name, which was what I thought they wanted in the first place. Now I was the one who was getting confused. You see, in Spain, people have two last names, the first one from their father and the second from their mother. So since I had misunderstood them and given a first name when they wanted a last name, I said, "That is." Assuming I was still trying to speak Spanish, they tried to figure out what spanish word I had just said and settled on Pah-riz...or Paris...and Juan Paris was born...keeps you humble and makes you see the need to continue with the Rosetta Stone...Hasta luego...

Sunday, September 5, 2010

We've just arrived back from a 12-day Scandanavian vacation of a lifetime, which included stops at Legoland in Billund, Denmark...Coepnhagen, Denmark...Tallin, Estonia...St Petersburg, Russia...Helsinki, Finland...and Stockholm, Sweden! Modes of transportation??? Planes, trains, automobiles, and one big ship! Such blessings come with a cost...of course...On our return flight, Scandinavian Airlines overbooked the flight by three. After volunteers came forward to give up their seats, we had to wait an hour for the airline to find their bags among all the others under the plane. Whatever happened to sending the bags on and getting them when you reach your destination on the later flight?? Oh well, nobody asked me...

By the time we took off, the six babies under two years of age, who were flying with us had had enough, and who can blame them? Much crying and screaming ensued, including from the adorable Spanish baby sitting next to me on his mother's lap. Luckily for me, as my friends can attest this, babies and children love me, most of them anyway. Thankfully, I've honed this little skill as a children's music songwriter and performer.

I started cooing to and playing peek-a-boo with the little guy and soon he was laughing and wanting me to tickle his feet. I'm amazing! Problem solved...whoops, not so fast...poopy diaper at take-off! Damn! ...And his parents never changed it...for two and a half hours! Well, 150 minutes of breathing without my nose...bring on the the dry mouth...Surely, they couldn't be THAT desensitized to the smell...I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt and maybe they were just out of clean diapers...at least he wasn't stinky AND screaming. No, no, no...he left that up to the five other little ones. The final nasal assault came from the kid in front of me would just could keep his shoes on any longer...who knew such a cute little fellow's feet could smell so bad.

Once I've recovered from the fumes, I'll start going through the nearly 1000 pictures I took! My hope is that blogging will be a little less daunting with the kids going back to school tomorrow...and hope springs eternal...right??? Hasta luego...

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Oceanografic in Valencia, Spain...Enjoy!

About Me

I am a military wife, with a supportive husband, two beautiful boys and one sweet little dachshund named, Sammy.
Every few years, we pick up and plop down somewhere new...this time it's Spain...we keep pinching ourselves, and by the looks of the bruises, it must be real!
I have a passion for all forms of writing. I've written a travel column for a local newspaper, written country music, and performed for children at festivals, parties, and schools as the Firecracker Fairy, singing my original children's tunes.
While in Spain, I have three hopes for myself and my family...learn to speak Spanish, travel as much as possible, and have fun! Documenting our journey as well as sharing my observations about Spanish/American life will be my focus for this blog. I hope you'll come along with us...